


A Mission with consequences

by JackNotFromTitanic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood and Injury, But not that much though... I guess, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Hearing Voices, Horror, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Missions Gone Wrong, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:13:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24115564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackNotFromTitanic/pseuds/JackNotFromTitanic
Summary: On a mission to catch a serial killer, Keith gets stabbed by some weird dagger and starts to hear a voice in his head. First he doesn't take it seriously until he finds himself inside a bloodbath, not knowing how he got there.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

"Paladins, we need you to come here immediately!"

Keith heard as he went inside the control room. Shiro and Allura stood in front of a projection of a weird looking pale alien, while the others came in as well.

"Several murder cases with the same pattern have happened and we finally found out where the culprit is hiding! But everyone we sent there hasn't come out alive! You have to help us! The killer is a threat for us all! He is insane!" The alien said, his voice clearly in panic.

"Team, go to your lions we're going to put a stop to these crimes." Shiro said, before everyone rushed to the hangar.

While flying, they started to talk about the mission.

"Guys I know we have defeated all kinds of things now but this sounds different, right?" Lance said, clearly saying what was in Keith's mind.

"Well this time it doesn't sound like a gigantic monster which is trying to eat us or something" Hunk answered, reminding himself of all the monsters they've fought before.

"We never came around serial killers, did we?" Pidge asked. "Sounds like one, this alien said there was a pattern to his killing"

"Right. Let's watch out guys." Shiro said.

The planet wasn't far from their current position so it didn't take long until they arrived. After they landed, the alien which they saw in the projection came to greet them and explained the situation.

"Thank you for coming, paladins! Let's get right to the point. So the killer has more than 20 victims by now and is very dangerous, but one victim was able to send us a hint to the culprit's hideout. He sacrificed his life to send us the information." The pale alien said, making all of the paladins more nervous than before.

"I will guide you to the right direction and then leave the rest to you. Please catch him." 

"We will. Let's go" Shiro said and with that they all went to the hideout. In a save distance they all made out a plan.

"There could still be some victims inside. Hunk, Pidge, find out if you can make out their position. Lance, Keith and I will try to secretly get inside the building and find the culprit. Whoever finds him first, tells us all the position and waits from a save distance until help comes. He sounded very dangerous so don't try anything alone." The leader said and with that the mission began.

Keith carefully managed to break inside the building from a window and looked around. It looked quite modern inside, the floor was lit by dim red lights and the doors looked metallic but each had some kind of small window where Keith could see through.

He walked around with his guard up as he heard a noise coming from the room next to him and was surprised to find the door leaned open. Before he carelessly opened it fully, he looked inside but couldn't find the sound source. As he slowly opened the door he found that it was a big room with the floor made of stone and some weird looking plants were growing a bit further in. It kind of looked like a small garden inside a house. Was this common in this culture?

At some moment he felt like he was being watched so he got his guard back up and looked around, slowly walking further into the room just to find that it leads to some small stairs down, where the noise seemed to come from. He should probably tell the others before going in.

"Guys? I hear some noises from a room close to where I entered, I'm gonna check it out." He messaged the others.

"Fine, but stay away a save distance. Don't let your guard down." Shiro answered before Keith stepped closer to the stairs.

Suddenly the door behind him slammed shut. Keith jumped first but was quickly back to his guard. Did someone come in? He turned around just to find no one being there. But the door hasn't just slammed shut itself, had it-

Something just made a sound.. Where was it? Keith turned around, not finding anything again, until suddenly someone jumped on him from above.

Keith fell on his back from the impact and saw the killer above him. He had sharp teeth which grinned at him, clearly bloodthirsty and his eyes shined with a bright orange. His skin was as pale as the Alien's skin from before but some blood was splattered on his face.

Keith kicked the alien away before jumping into a fighting stance right away, which made the killer grin even more.

"They have sent a new friend to play with? How nice of them! The others are already limp pieces of meat!" The killer enthusiastically said before Keith started to attack.

It was a very hard fight since the killer seemed very experienced in dodging the attacks. Moreover he managed to attack right after dodging and moved very fast. After time Keith was the one struggling to dodge the attacks until he saw an opportunity. The killer barely kept any attention to his sides while attacking. "A weak point!" He thought and went to smash his bayard into the side. 

And that's where it all started to go wrong. While Keith tried to attack the side, the killer hit him on his neck with his elbow and Keith fell to the ground. He barely caught his breath when the bigger alien pulled him up at his hair just to harshly smash his head on the stone ground. And for a second all Keith could see were stars.

"Did you think you were being smart while trying to hit my side? Well let me tell you, you are not." He said, pulling Keith up again. 

"Now then should we stop playing around and start to get real? I would love to try my best toy out on you as well. Let's see if a fighter like you breaks as easily as the others." With that said he dragged Keith to the small stairs and kicked him down. 

Keith coughed and wiped the fresh blood from his nose. As he looked around, view still blurry, he noticed that it was a small basement with a red ground and messy red walls and a hanging.. What was that? 

"This is my playground~" the alien said and went to a table to pick up a dagger which had red glowing lines on it. 

The red paladin's head didn't spin around that badly anymore so he managed to find out what hung in front of him and stared at it with wide eyes. Apparently the wall and ground were red because of this corpse. It looked like this victim tried to get free at all costs. It's head looked like it tried to smash it on the wall several times, the hands were chained up to the wall and small stab wounds were making its shirt bloody. So this was the sound source from before.. But the alien didn't look alive anymore. 

What the hell did that killer do to this alien.. Keith would not let that go. He has to stop this psychopath at all costs. 

When he found out that the insane one spend his attention to the dagger, he managed to get up as quickly as he could and attacked again. Right then the killer turned around but to Keith's luck he didn't dodge the blow.

The bayard cut through the pale shoulder and Keith though he had him now, he could defeat him now, but that thought stopped when the killer started to smile and he felt a burning pain in his stomach and something warm dripping down. The alien grinned at Keith who was now looking down to see the dagger being pulled out harshly, splattering his blood around. 

And it fucking hurt. It burned so much but he couldn't let his guard down, not now. Not when this grinning psycho is already planning his next attack. 

Just in time Keith managed to dodge the blade in front of him with his bayard. It was then that he noticed that the blade's glowing pulsed as if it was alive. 

The killer noticed Keith's confused glance. "Are you showing interest towards my best toy? It is a very special one." He said and turned to quickly do the best kick Keith has ever seen, and he has seen many in those martial art movies he used to watch with Shiro.

Unfortunately the kick hit him right on his fresh wound and he screamed before he fell on the ground. He tried to muffle his pained cries, biting his lips in order to do so while he held on his wound. 

The killer simply laughed at this view. "You are trying so desperately to hold back, but you shouldn't. That scream of you sounded so much better. Believe me, it's more fun when you scream your throat raw! At least that's fun for me." He said and bend down to Keith, placing the dagger on his chin to pull it up, staring Keith in the eyes.

"You truly have the eyes of a fighter.. Do you not feel it yet?"

What does he mean? The only thing Keith felt was pain. The younger one was obviously confused by this question.

"Impressive! You truly are something else! Let me try again!" And with that said the alien stabbed Keith's shoulder and it burn again, much more than before, when the killer moved it around a bit before pulling halfway out.

"Nah, I should rather let it in for a while, maybe it just takes longer with you.." he pushed it back inside which now lead Keith to shed some unwanted tears. His stomach hurt, his head hurt, his shoulder burned and it felt like something was streaming into him. What was that feeling?

"It seems to be working now.." the alien said while staring at the now lighter glowing blade. 

Keith's head spun. Mixed together with the pain he felt nauseous. All of a sudden he heard Pidge's voice from his helmet.

"G..guys.. You won't believe what we found... This killer is insane.." it sounded like Pidge was close to cry.

"Calm down Pidge, tell us what you found." Shiro asked.

Keith tried to put his com on with one hand but the alien pushed the blade in further to prevent so. 

"That's.. A bloodbath. Everyone was stabbed multiple times but they all also have scratches and blood under their nails, as if.. As if they tried to end themselves" Pidge's voice was shaking a lot.

It was quiet for some time before shiro answered. "Okay guys let's all meet and search together. Maybe we have underestimated this killer." 

Keith had to tell them where he was. He had to tell them to watch out. He needed their hel-

_**Why should they help you?** _

Keith's eyes widened in shock. Who said that?

_**They don't need you. You're way too weak to stay with them. Just look at how quickly you got defeated.** _

"Oh? Has it begun now? Finally.. Now let me enjoy the show.." the killer pulled the knife out, placed it back on the table and walked back in front of Keith. 

"Wh.. What began?" Keith asked, looking at the killer who grinned down at him.

"Your weakness. Let's see how long you survive." The alien said while standing in front of Keith, not intending to do anything except grinning down at him.

His head was still spinning so he didn't quite understand but this was probably his chance to notify the others. That in thought he reached out his hand to put his com on.

".. I.. Found him" he panted, struggling to talk. 

"Wow Keith, man you sound like shit!" Lance said, voice worried.

"Thanks.. A lot" Keith joked despite being in pain. 

"Keith tell us where you are." Shiro sounded very serious. Would he scold him when he finds out that Keith tried to take out this guy alone?

"I'm.." 

The killer stepped closer and kicked Keith on his face, knocking his helmet off. He then picked it up and looked at it while Keith held his head to stop the spinning.

"You think your friends can help you now? You're clearly wrong."

_**You can't even help yourself. Pathetic.** _

The dark voice was making his head spin even more which hurt a lot. He grabbed his head tightly and squished his eyes together.

"Pidge-... track-....helmet?" It was suddenly so hard to listen to their voices. The kick probably broke somethings inside the helmet.

"Alrea-... On it" Keith suddenly felt his chest hurting. Why was it hurting? Keith slowly looked up and saw how the killer stepped on him.

"Now you're letting me kill all your friends. Once they get here, they are dead. Let's wait for them upstairs."

With that he pulled Keith on his arm which made him scream out since his shoulder was now in pure agony. The wound kept on bleeding even more than before and the nausea got worse.

"-eith?! -...nearly there!" 

The killer laughed. "How entertaining you and your friends are. It's going to be so much fun to slowly kill them all."

Keith was being pulled up the stairs, still on his hurt arm and couldn't stop himself from crying out in pain until he saw white spots and heard a ringing.

_**Weak.** _

When Keith opened his eyes again he faced the bloody ground in front of him, his head still ringing. Distantly he heard loud noises which started to grow louder and louder. He looked up to find the sound source.

His blurry mind slowly started to adjust. The team was fighting against the killer, Pidge and Lance tried to get closer to Keith while Hunk and Shiro tried to keep the skilled killer busy. Both were struggling to defend the attacks from the fast alien. They looked exhausted, how long have they been fighting like this? 

Keith tried to get up but fell on the ground again immediately because the burning pain grew with each movement he made. Why did it hurt so much, the wounds weren't something that bad, were they? The only thing he could do now was lay there and watch.

_**Useless** _

"Keith!" Lance was now next to him and looked more worried than he had ever looked at Keith.

"We got you now, mullet. You're gonna be fine, just stay awake for me!" Keith smiled lightly at the sharpshooter. That was another bonding moment. Lance can't deny this later.

"Lance watch out!" Pidge shouted, but before Lance could react, the killer punched Lance, beating so strong that he fell on the ground some feet away from Keith.

Hunk started to shoot at the alien again, while Shiro ran towards them, loading his galra arm in order to attack. 

Just before the killer was about to attack Lance again, Shiro hit the alien on the wound he got from Keith. Unfortunately the killer didn't even flinch. Instead he pulled Shiro's arm up like a judo master and managed to throw him on the ground. Afterwards he went to Keith again and pulled him up on his hair to hold the younger boy in front of him.

"Didn't you come for this guy? What would you do if he were to die right now?" The killer started to choke the hurt boy with his free hand.

Keith managed to grab the hand that was choking him, scratching on it. But like before the killer didn't mind. He showed no sign of pain at all.

"Oh I have a better idea.." the alien still choked Keith, placed his hand on his bloody shoulder and pulled him a little closer. The burning pained increased. 

"Maybe you would rather like to help me?" He whispered into Keith's ear, sending him shivers down. 

"I would let you live a little longer.. If you kill your friends." 

_**Kill them**_

He couldn't breath. 

_**Kill them**_

He couldn't move. 

_**Kill**_

The only thing he could hear was this voice until he fell limp. 

While the alien had all its attention on Keith, Hunk and Pidge managed to get behind them and the yellow paladin hit the killer on his head, using his big shooter-weapon like a bat. That surprised the alien and he let Keith go which was perfect for Pidge, because now she could shock the bad guy without harming her friend.

"Don't forget about me!" Pidge shouted after attacking the criminal from behind, sending shocks through his body which made him fall limp. 

Hunk came by as well and placed his bayard-gun on the head of the villain in case he tried to stand up. 

"We got you now. You will make up for your crimes." Hunk said and Pidge used her bayard to tie him up.

"Lance, Keith you good?" Shiro asked despite being hurt himself, eyes still on the criminal in front of him.

"Yeah" Lance answered and got up to help Keith who was lying there coughing, eyes still wide. "You good?"

The black-haired boy managed to nod.

_**Yeah, good for nothing.** _

"Let's head back to the lions." Shiro said and pulled the killer up to force him to walk with them.

"We're not finished yet." The killer struggled walking but managed to glare at Keith. "You will suffer until you die." 

And with that the mission was over, the killer brought to prison and Keith was brought to a pod immediately after they got back to the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

When Keith woke up everything was dark. He shivered and wanted to move his arms up to feel around. This felt like a cold, small cage. Where was he?!

He felt around until he found something that felt like a button and pushed it, just to stumble out on shaking legs.

This looked like the castle.. But it was so quiet and dark.. Did he drop out of the pod earlier than planned?

He started to walk slowly in order to get to his room, still feeling the burning pain in his shoulder and stomach. But there's no way he would wake the team up now, he would simply sleep the rest off instead.

That in thought he managed to walk to his room and fell down into his bed. Probably not the best thing he could do being in pain, but he was too exhausted. Quickly he fell asleep.

. 

. 

. 

_**Stand up.** _

The loud deep voice made Keith open his eyes in shock. Where was it? No one was in his room and it was still dark.

 _ **You forgot what you should do.**_  


Keith slowly remembered hearing this voice when he was with the killer. Was this voice in his head? But what did it mean?

_**Let me help you to remember. It's gonna be a lot of fun.** _

All of a sudden Keith found himself standing in front of his teammates but they were all lying on the bloody ground. What was that? Was this real? He had to help them!

The closest to him was his brother, so he went to Shiro and held his head up to look at him. He was staring at nothing in particular with an expression Keith has never seen on Shiro before. 

The younger boy had to make sure it wasn't what he thought off so he felt for a pulse. Nothing.

_That couldn't be._

Anxious he looked at the others before he went to check everyone. Nothing changed. There was no pulse. 

_That couldn't be!_

_Who did that?!_

He would kill whoever did that to his friends.

_**You did that.** _

_What?_

_**It's all because of you.** _

No that can't be. This voice is lying.

_**Am I?** _

_**Just remember that one moment.**_

His mind got thrown back to the mission. Back to what the killer said. "I would let you live a little longer.. _if you kill your friends_." 

_**Kill them**_

_**Kill them**_

_**Kill**_

Suddenly Keith saw nothing but darkness and heard screams. It were the screams of his friends. Loud, pained screams like he had never heard them before. They all screamed over each other, making his head spin. It was so loud. So painful. So real.

Hearing this made him feel as if he couldn't breath.

_D..did I..?_

"KEITH?!"

Keith jumped awake, finding himself in his bed with his arms gripping at his neck. Did he just choke himself..? He looked at his shivering hands for a while until a tear dripped down on them. Probably because it was so shocking.

Yeah this dream felt very real, his heart still beat quickly but he was glad that it was over now. 

"Keith, please tell me you're here" that was Shiro's voice. He was fine. This was just a nightmare. That's right, Keith could never do something to harm his friends. He would never make them scream like that.

Keith brushed over his eyes before he stood up to meet his brother, walking to the door on unsteady legs.

"Keith!" Shiro said after the door opened. "Why are you outside the pod already? You should've stayed in it much longer! Are you fine? Healed up?" He looked so worried and Keith was happy to see that he was fine. The others came by as well, all relieved to find the red paladin in his room, while Keith was relieved to see the others alive.

"Man you got us worried.." Hunk said and now Keith noticed that they were all still in their pajamas, except Shiro. Somehow this view was really calming his heart. It didn't beat that quickly anymore.

"Sorry.. I just thought I would sleep the rest off. Didn't mean to scare you." Keith said, realizing how hoarse his voice sounded.

"Well you probably need to rest some more." Shiro said, putting his normal hand on Keith's shoulder, regretting it when Keith flinched a bit with a pained expression. It still hurt.

"Maybe we should put number 4 into the pod again. He seems to still be hurt. Also the pod should've let him out hours later, he can't be fully healed yet." Coran said, mustering Keith closely.

"I'm fine.. I don't need to go back inside the pod." The red paladin said. 

_**You're just afraid to be locked in that tight cold place again. But don't worry. I would keep you the best company.** _

Keith stared out with wide eyes, reminding himself of the dream he had. He clearly doesn't want to be alone right now.

"No Keith, you should really-" Shiro started but was cut off by Lance.

"Why don't we eat something first?" He adviced.

Hunk immediately liked the idea. "Yeah, a good meal for all of us to regain energy. It's nearly breakfast time anyway." He said smiling, wanting to convince the leader.

"Okay." They got him. "But afterwards we'll think of the pod." Shiro said and everyone went to the kitchen.

_**Make sure to enjoy the peaceful time. It could be the last one you have.**_

Keith managed to ignore that. This voice wasn't real. He was just still a bit exhausted. This was nothing to be concerned of. That thought done, he ate breakfast with the others, ignoring the weird feeling he had building up in his stomach.

As always they were all talking happily about anything but the mission yesterday and Keith was thankful for that. He didn't want to think back. He rather liked this calming atmosphere now. He looked at his food for a while and ate a bit, listening to the all so common table-talk. Until Hunk noticed how Pidge lightely smiled at Keith. "It's good to see you're fine.." Pidge said, sounding relieved. She probably couldn't forget what she had to see in that killer's hideout. 

Keith looked up from his plate to face Pidge and his heart skipped a beat. His friends looked bloody, pale and dead but they were still talking normally. Keith quickly rubbed his eyes and looked at his friends again. Nothing changed. 

_What the hell is happening here..?_

"Yeah, when I cradled you in my arms you really looked beat up" That was Lance's voice but he wasn't really recognizable. He looked as if someone cut his head off and smashed it back on his neck again, leaving everything bloody. Keith stared at him in shock until someone else got his attention.

"Keith, you good?" Hunk asked, blood-overflowing eyes staring at the now pale boy. 

"Y.. Yeah." The red paladin quickly looked on his plate again but there was no way he could keep on eating now. _What the hell is happening here?_

"You sure? You look pale.." Lance said. 

Shiro stood up and walked towards Keith to put his hand on his forehead. This made the pale boy look up. He saw how a half skinned arm was being placed at his forehead and then looked into Shiro's eyes. He knew it was his brother but this sight was scary. His eyes were nothing like before, they were empty and bloodoverflown and Keith couldn't bring himself to look at them much longer so he avoided the gaze, looked a bit down and noticed Shiros right arm. It still was metallic but sharp nails were at the end of his fingers. To put it simply he looked like he just came out of a horror movie. 

"Could be a fewer." Shiro said. 

"I.. I'm not that hungry anymore.. I will.. sleep a bit more.." the younger boy said before standing up, avoiding to look at the others. 

"Wait" Shiro held Keith's wrist to hold him back. When Keith looked at him his brother looked normal again. He couldn't stop himself from breathing out a relieved shiver. 

"Maybe you should go back into the pod again." 

"N..no really, I'm fine. Just need sleep." And with that he went off to his room. When he was in his room, the only things he heard were his breathing and heartbeat. 

This wasn't normal. He's seeing things. And it all started with that killer... He has to know how to stop this. Keith has no other option. He has to meet the killer again to find out what is happening to him and how to stop it.


	3. Chapter 3

"I have to find out what's happening as fast as possible." Keith thought as he dropped on his bed, still shocked from what he's seen before. He had to go back and talk to the killer. The faster he would do so, the better. But he couldn't just go there. The others would never let him meet that killer after what happened, which is exactly why Keith had no other option as to sneak away.

_**And when would you do that?**_

There was that voice again. Loud and clear in his head, like it's keeping everything else in Keith's mind in a black shadow. Why is he hearing this? Still.. it got a point. He was still exhausted, his body hurt and he was walking quite unsteady. This was clearly not a good condition. He would have to get some rest first and then meet the killer. No need to hurry, it's like Shiro said "Patience yields focus". He just has to be patient for now. That in thought he laid down and closed his eyes. A nice sleep could do the thing. 

. 

. 

. 

After some time passed, the rest of the team met up in the lounge for a smalltalk which started first with Pidge, Lance and Hunk.

"I liked todays breakfast, it tasted less of food goo but more of actual breakfast, y'know?" Lance said while he was comfortably sitting on the couch.

"Yeah, I tried out some ingredients I got from the last planet we were. You know, they were really thankfull so they gave us a variety of new space food to discover." The yellow paladin smiled sadly, clearly thinking of the many people who had to suffer from the death of their relatives before they were able to show team Voltron their thanks.

"Well.. I'm glad that we stopped that psycho from killing more innocent people. It's good that we catched him." Pidge pointed out.

"But it was a close call. I mean, you've seen what he did to Mullet right? He nearly gave me a heart attack." While saying that, Lance leaned forward and put his arms on his legs while holding his hands together.

"That's true.. he still didn't really seem fine at breakfast." The green paladin looked worried.

"Yeah, he has eaten less than he did before. It's probably because of the fever." Hunk stated while Shiro walked by.

"What are you talking about?" The leader asked as he sat next to Lance. 

"We're worrying a little about Keith. He looked very pale while eating." The cook answered. 

"Yeah.. I'm worrying too, he should get back in a pod." Pidge's eyes were a bit glassy as she looked at Shiro. 

"I think so too, but he went to sleep an hour ago, maybe he needs a few more hours of rest before we check on him and convince him to get into a pod." Shiro said. 

"Well, then let's work on a plan to convince him." The blue palladin stretched out his arms before he stood up and the others nodded in agreement. 

Some more hours passed as they were sure of the plan and Shiro started it with knocking on Keith's room. According to the plan the red palladin should've answered or opened the door, but that didn't happen. After another knock it was still quiet so Shiro opened the door himself and looked into the room. The blanket was half on the bed and half on the ground and some blood droplets were on the pillow. No clue of Keith. 

Quickly Shiro sprinted back to the others to tell them about Keith's absence. 

"Where's Keith?" Lance asked. 

"He's not in his room." Shiro said before they suddenly heard a surprised scream from Corran. In a hurry they ran to the sound source, which was where the pods were. 

"What happen- Keith?!" Shiro asked as he saw his brother laying on the ground with a puddle of blood under his face, coming from his nose. Immediately he held his head up and Corran brought him a handkerchief to stop the bleeding. 

Firstly the others were staring in shock but they quickly went to help as well. Pidge helped Shiro and Corran to clean away the blood before Lance and Hunk pulled Keith up to carry him into a pod. After that was done everyone breathed out in relief. 

"When did he get here?" The blue paladin asked as Shiro turned away from Keith's pod. 

"I don't know but I think he tried to get into a pod. He should've said something." The leader said while thinking of possible reasons why Keith didn't say anything. 

"This time I will make sure the pod is right and won't let him out too early again." Corran said, as he checked the pod. "Now everything should be right. You all should also get some rest, it was very stressful lately. We don't have any missions for now so you should use the time to relax while you can." 

After a moment of silence everyone agreed and went to get some rest.

.

.

.

.

.

.

It was so dark and cold. Where was he? Slowly Keith tried to open his eyes when suddenly he heard a loud hiss and felt how he fell down in someones arms. Why was it so hard to open his eyes? 

"Keith?" That was Shiro's voice. "Keith do you remember what happened?" 

Happened? What should've happened...? Was he inside the pod? He finally managed to open his eyes just to see a blurry sight of his brother. 

"You should probably rest first, I'm gonna bring you to your bed." Shiro said as he put Keith's arm over his shoulder and dragged his younger brother to his room. 

As they arrived inside, both men sat next to each other on the bed. After a moment of silence the older one started to talk. "You really like to scare me don't you?" 

"What?" 

"Well first you got out off the pod too early and then when I came to see how you were doing you weren't in your room anymore and I had to find out, that Coran found you laying on the ground in front off the pods as if you wanted to get in. You've been in the pod for 2 days... I know you don't want to worry everyone, but sometimes we have to worry. You should've said something when you felt worse... You can't just always do everything alone, you-" Shiro started scolding his brother, without realizing that Keith was already lost in his own mind. 

Sleep. The last thing he remembered was that he went to sleep. 

_But what the hell happened..? Why was I there?_

**_Let me remind you._**

And with that Keith was lost in his flashback. 

. 

. 

. 

It was a dream. No, no dream. That was a nightmare. He dreamt that he was about to kill his friends and he couldn't stop. He had no control. His body moved on its own and swung out at his friends, the first one being Pidge because she was the closest but Lance jumped between them to protect her and it hit him. His skin ripped apart, the blood splattered out and Pidge screamed and cried out. Keith would never want to hurt Lance. He would never want to frighten Pidge and let her see something like that. He would never want to hurt his friends. That's exactly what he thought in his dream, so he tried so hard to stop moving or at least to move where none of his teammates were. He didn't want to see them hurt, nor did he want to be the reason for their pain. But there was this voice. It kept every other thought outside, nothing not even a sound managed to get inside Keith's mind anymore. It was just that voice. That one voice which made him want to kill his friends in the most terrible way that was possible. He desperately wanted to stop this urge but instead his body dashed out at Hunk and nearly stabbed him before Shiro came and managed to dodge Keith's attack. He grabbed his arm and with the power of Keith's blow he made him run into a wall, head first what then woke him up. 

The worst thing was, despite the heavy headache and a bloody nose, that he still felt this urge. So he thought off a way to stop him, to lock him up somewhere, to freeze him so he couldn't harm anyone. The pod. Keith remembered how he stood up on shaking legs, feeling hot as he struggled to walk to the pod. His sight got blurry and the last few things he remembered were how he held his hand up to cover up the blood dripping from his nose, as he nearly reached the pod. But his head spin so much and he felt a pressuring pain in it as he suddenly saw white spots all over until darkness engulfed him. 

"Hey." The raven-haired boy jumped by a touch on his shoulder and let out an unwanted shaking breath as he registered that it was just his worried brother in front of him. Now he finally remembered what happened. Coran was probably the one who cleaned off the blood and put him in the pod, he should really thank him later. 

"Keith, Is there something you want to tell me?" Shiro asked, clearly being concerned. 

"I.. No.. I'm fine, really." He said that but he was clearly not believing that himself. Still, Shiro let that slide. "Fine.. Just know that you can always come to me if something bothers you, alright?" The taller one put a hand on Keith's shoulder lightly, as if he was scared to hurt him there again, while saying that. 

"Yeah." Keith smiled lightly, before his brother stood up. He knew he could always count on his brother. 

**_But not this time._**

The voice felt so cold that Keith got goosebumps. 

**_This time you stand alone._**

"Then I'm gonna let you rest now." Shiro said, what brought Keith back to reality. "Y..yeah." 

Right before the leader closed the door he sighed. 

"And please. Don't scare me like that again." He said before he left. 

_Sorry Shiro.. But I just have to do this. I will meet that killer tonight."_

That decision done, Keith waited for some time to pass after he prepared his knife and armor, to make sure that at least most of his teammates are sleeping. Quietly he sneaked out to the hangar, went into his lion and flew to the coordinates of the planet they met the killer on. 

. 

. 

. 

While flying Keith thought about a plan. _Okay.. the prison is hidden but they will probably tell me where it is. Next thing would be to convince this killer to answer my questions and tell me how to stop this voice. Somehow I'm gonna manage that.._ That thought done he arrived at the planet and was greeted by the surprised leader of the aliens, who also was the one that called team Voltron for help before.

"The red paladin! What an honor and surprise to see you here once again!" The pale alien said. 

"H..Hello, I'm here to meet the serial killer we cought last time." Keith answered. 

"Oh my.. well usually no one except the personal is allowed inside this prison but I guess for you we could make an exception. Follow me." 

"Thanks." The red paladin said as they started to walk to an empty street which seemed to get narrower every few meters, until at some point it lead to a dark pathway down. 

"Only the worst criminals are being kept here, that's why we have high safety measures. As you can see the prison is build deep into the ground to decrease the possibility of a breakout or break in." The pale leader said as they arrived at the entrance where he waved at two guards, who then opened the gate for them. 

"Unfortunately you can't stay too long, there are very strong rules. Just walk down these stairs you should find him at the end of the hallway there. We will notify you when you have to get back upstairs." 

"Thank you, I'm glad for every second I get." That said, he went down the stairs which lead to the hallway the killer was in. The light flickered on a little late but when it did, Keith saw the killer looking up at him. 

"Oh.. it's you. You've come faster than I thought." The murderer said with an amused grin. 

"You have to tell me what is happening with me!" Keith demanded before the murder slowly moved his head closer to the prison bars. 

"Quite in a hurry, aren't you? Getting right to the topic.." 

"Just answer my questions. What did you do to me?" Maybe that was a too impulsive start, but he has to know what's going on. 

"You really want some answers? Hmmmm..." He thought a little as he leaned his head back while holding onto the prison bars with stretched out arms. "If you bring me my knife I will tell you more about what you want to know. I'm sure you know exactly which knife I mean." He said, his grin growing bigger as he looked Keith in the eyes. 

"Do I look like a fool to you? The knife would-" 

"The knife would bring you answers. Without it I have no intention of talking to you. Have fun suffering some more before you die." That said he leaned back just to plop on the ground, losing all his will to talk. 

"Hey! No, you need to answer me! Hey!" The red paladin shouted as he held onto the bars but he didn't get an answer. Instead the killer simply rolled to the side where he painted over the ground with his finger, looking bored. 

**_The knife will bring you answers._ **

**_You want answers. You need them. You need this knife._**

Keith stood there for a while, thinking about the options he had as he suddenly heard an announcement from the guards. "The time to visit is over, I repeat, visit time is over now. Every visitor needs to come back immediately or we will take action." 

_fuck.._ "Fine." He turned away from the murderer and started to walk away. "I'm gonna get you this knife." That made the killer grin widely before he giggled. "I'm looking forward to see you again then." 

That said, Keith went upstairs and the light shut down.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, to all of you who like this fanfic:  
> I tried to draw a comic of it, if you want to check it out you can find it on my Instagram (same username) under the tag #amissionwithconsequences

As soon as Keith arrived upstairs, the leader came to him and whispered quite loudly.

"Could you get what you wanted? What does he even have that you had to come all the way back?" Curiously he looked at Keith.

The red paladin saw the curiosity in the leaders eyes, as well as a cautious stare from the guards. They didn't seem to trust him. Anyway he carefully answered.

"Information. Just needed to check that we didn't forget anything." That was the fastest thing he could come up with at the moment.

"I see." The leader said while raising his barely existent eyebrows. The guards whispered with a disbelieving look. Great, now Keith seemed suspicious. That means he can't just get back later and ask for another visit, which also means he has to break into this prison. It's gonna be a long night, because there would be no way he'd break into a prison in broad daylight. 

_**But first you need to get the knife.**_

That's right, the knife comes first. That in mind he walked to the place where they first met that serial killer. The place was pretty left alone like before and it still smelled like dead bodys and blood. 

Cautiously he walked through the corridor and looked at every window to remember which room he should go into but after some more steps he noticed there was no need to search because everything was there like they left it. Some dead bodies were inside the other rooms what was reason for the smell and thic air. The door Keith went in was open and everything mirrored the fight they had. The sight of so many blood splatteres on the ground made Keith's stomach churn. 

_**You know he could have killed you here. You could've died. Maybe that would be better. You wouldn't be a burden anymore. Just look at the trouble the others needed to go through because of you. You're pathetic. Got beaten so easily.**_

The raven-haired boy tried to ignore the voice and spaced out for a while. Shiro, Lance, Pidge and Hunk got hurt too just because of him being reckless. One more reason to not let them get involved in this any further. He stopped spacing out and walked towards the bloodstained staircase. Walking down he saw the hanging corpse quietly hanging there and couldn't stop himself from staring at it as much as he wanted to.

_**Isn't that beautiful? You could've been in that place.. But no worries, it's not too late for that. First comes the knife though** _

Finally he managed to look away and searched for the knife. It was laying on the table just how the killer left it. Stepping closer, he felt some kind of energy pulling him to the knife as if he needed to touch it right then and there. As soon as he picked it up the glowing part of the blade flashed up burning the right hand of Keith making him scream in agony but he couldn't let go of it. Just like some days ago he felt like something is streaming into him but it was hot and burned his whole arm until it finally stopped as he realised that his throat felt dry. A ringing filled his head.

**_Perfect. Now bring the knife to him._** He heard before he saw black. 

A bleeping alarm made him open his eyes. Where was he? As he looked around he noticed the red flashing lights, guards on the ground and blood on his hands. What was that feeling he had? He felt dizzy and out of control of his body and his arm felt like it still burned. When the heck did he get here? He grabbed in his pocket to see if he still had the knife and looked at the cell when he didn't find it anywhere. Somehow the killer must have escaped since his cell was empty. Fuck. How could this happen?! As suspicious as he looked now he had to get out of there or he would get in trouble. As soon as he turned to the stairs the paladin heard noises from upstairs so he hid in a small corner, with barely enough room to breath. He can't let someone find him like this they would definitely lock him up or worse.There's no way he could talk himself out of it, especially since he doesn't even know if he is guilty of something or not.

The loud noise got closer and he finally made out what it was. Multiple guards fell down the stairs and grunted in pain. He rather expected to get attacked by those guards but now he needs to help them. Quickly Keith ran over to see if they're fine.

"Are you okay? What's happening?" He asked while helping the closest guard to sit up.

"A paladin form voltron? I knew we sent a signal but.. I'm surprised you're here that quickly.." another injured guard cut her off. "Whatever, the killer is escaping! Catch him!"

Well the good thing is that he doesn't need to talk himself out.. at least not here and now. He sprinted up the stairs and saw how the killer choked the leader of the aliens while the last guards were laying on the ground unconsciously. Keith took his bayard and went for an attack with his uninjured hand what made the murderer grin. "So you've already come back to yourself huh?" The killer asked while letting the leader go and dodged Keith's sword unimpressedly. Multiple attacks followed but with his blurred sight, Keith never managed a hit and the alien started teasing the young paladin. "Naaw.. feeling a little dizzy boy? You can't seem to aim right. Let me show you how it's done." And he did indeed show him how it's done.

Keith needed to be quick as he had to avoid getting cut by the criminals glowing blade. He managed to dodge a strong blow right before his nose, blocking it with his sword but the killer kept on pushing. Soon it wasn't enough to defend himself with only one hand so he raised the burned hand up to the sword and pushed it powerfully, squishing his eyes together as the pain in his arm increased. 

But that didn't stop the killer from his next attacks. As soon as the murderer was pushed away he went for an attack at Keith's unprotected stomache. Thanks to his quick reflexes Keith managed to move away only leaving a small cut on his left side. What he didn't expect was the fist on the right, coming down right on his face. He forgot how strong this alien was. Just one hit and his dizziness got worse but that didn't stop him from fighting. 

He tried his best to focus on the killer in front of him but it was hard for him to attack and dodge at the same time. He never felt so weak. It didn't take long until the murderer hit him on his cheek, knocking him on the ground. Keith thought he might vomit from the spinning in his head. Pain and ringing was all that engulfed him. 

"I believe you're not taking me seriously this time. At least try to make it fun and use both hands. Oh.. or are you hurt there~?" Suddenly Keith felt the burning in his arm increase immensely since the killer stepped on it. "Haha.. let me take a closer look." He said before taking Keith's arm armor off and sliced the undersuit open with his blade. Keith muffled his scream as best as he could as the blade cut from his elbow to his wrist and the alien enjoyed that pained look.

"Huh? What happened with your arm my dear toy~?" The eyes of the alien lighted up from happiness as soon as he looked at the burn marks. "Don't tell me.. my blade burned you? That makes everything better!"

"W..what do you mean?!" Keith asked grabbing the murderer on his bloody shirt to pull him down.

"Oh aren't you desperate now? You really want some answers huh?" He looked at Keith's eager look and giggled. "Well if you really want some answers you have to earn them... come with me." That said he pulled the red paladin on his hair, making him stand up. But as soon as Keith stood he turned his bayard to a sword again and managed to cut the aliens cheek.

"I'm going nowhere with you." He spit out, still standing unsteady.

"Well.." now the killer really looked pissed off. "Then I guess there's no other way as to force you."

. 

. 

_**That was a really bad idea of you. Guess you're dead now.**_

The voice was probably right, it was a bad idea to make this killer mad since the anger seemed to make him quicker. It was impossible for Keith to defend himself in that state and he took hit after hit until he heard a familiar voice. The red lion roared as it flew down from the sky, behind her the other lions. 

"Red!" The raven-haired boy was relieved while the murderer looked up with a smirk, which disappeared shortly as he had to tumble in order to evade a laser beam of Blue. 

"So you've sent some good weapons to catch me, huh? I didn't know you were a paladin, my toy." He said while looking still eager for a challenge. 

Everyone except of Lance kept attacking the criminal while the blue paladin flew down to get to Keith, because there was no way he would let him pilot his lion in that state. As soon as Keith managed to limp into the lion he let himself plump on the ground. When was the last time he was so exhausted and pained? He spaced out until he heard something muffled and turned his head just to make out the blue sea-like eyes in front of him. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at the sight before everything went black again.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
"Come on! Open your eyes for me! Hey!" Without use Lance slapped Keith's cheek lightly. _He is still alive, right?! He wouldn't just smile at me like that and then die, right??!_ He panicked before checking his pulse. _All good, still breathing.._ he sighed in relief and stabilised his fellow teammate in the back of the lion. After that he went back to piloting them to the castle, the others can handle it from here after all.

As soon as they arrived, Lance asked Corran to get a pod ready and helped to take on the cryo suit. He reasoned himself, that he's doing that just because that's what a good crewmate does, not like he had any intentions. He blushed a little at first, but that quickly faded as he saw how much damage the alien made. He needed to hurry up. 

"Holy shit.. how?" He said out loud as he saw the burn and cut on Keith's arm. That kind of wound wasn't normal in a fight, especially not when your opponent only has a knife... _Where did he get that from?_ "The pod is ready, let's put him inside." Corran pulled him out of his thoughts. Right after that they made sure to set up the pod rightly. It wasn't long after that, that the others came back as well. 

"How's he?" Shiro asked as he got into the medbay. 

"Safe and sound in the pod." Lance answered, trying to maintain a smile. He shouldn't let Shiro worry more than he already does. "What about that crazy psycho? Catched him?" 

"Yeah.. this time we brought him to another planet which is specifically made to keep people like him safe from others. I think its better to keep the exact coordinates to ourselves though.." The leader looked troubled. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well apparently the reason why the killer managed to breake out was Keith." Shiro looked as if he didn't want to believe what he just said. 

"What? Sorry, I think I just heard you saying that Keith was the reason." 

"I can't believe it myself either... but that's what the killer said and there were some witnesses." Shiro looked a little pale. 

"But-! ... I don't think he would do that, there must be something going on we don't know about." Lance said. 

Suddenly they heard steps and were surprised to find Allura approaching them as if she listened to the whole conversation. "I think that, too. That's why the best idea might be to just watch him for a while." She said and got a look from Shiro right away, but she kept on explaining herself. "Don't get me wrong, I also want to believe he's innocent but I don't think that asking him about it would solve everything there is. I have a feeling he would keep something out, so let's watch him a little." 

"I don't like this idea." Shiro said. "But I understand where you're coming from. Fine. Let's do this, but only under one condition. We'll just keep an eye out. We won't disturb his privacy." 

"Got it. I'll inform the others." Allura said before she went out. 

Now all that was left to do was wait.


End file.
